Latest ’slave law’ demo pulls 10,000; unions deliver ultimatum

BBJ

Monday, January 7, 2019, 11:30

An estimated 10,000 protestors attended the latest demonstration against the so-called "slave law" pertaining to overtime rules in Budapest on Saturday, where László Kordás, head of the Hungarian Trade Union Confederation (MASZSZ), called for protests and blockades across the country on January 19 should the government fail to meet the unionsʼ demands.

The latest in a month-long series of protests against the controversial "slave law" took place on Saturday, January 5. According to online news portal merce.hu, the turnout reached approximately 10,000 people, despite the cold, with demonstrators marching from Hősök tere (Heroesʼ Square) along Andrássy út, to the Parliament building at Kossuth tér.

The demonstration was attended by several trade unions, as well as all major opposition parties. After the crowd arrived at the stage erected in front of the Parliament building, several trade union representatives made speeches denouncing the governmentʼs policies. Kordás reiterated a four-point list of union demands - pertaining to the "slave law," as well as minimum wages and other labor-related issues - and announced nationwide demonstrations by trade unions on January 19, declaring: "let the country come to a halt in all counties and all larger cities."

Towards the end of the event, representatives of the opposition parties DK, Jobbik, LMP, Momentum, the Liberals, Socialists (MSzP), and Párbeszéd, as well as parliamentary independents, each made short speeches, emphasizing the importance of working together in order to stop the overtime law.

MSzP President Bertalan Tóth went as far as calling for joint lists of opposition candidates at EU and municipal elections this year, arguing that opposition and government candidates should be matched "one against one."

According to online news site index.hu, Csaba Molnár, an MEP for DK, stressed that those present were protesting not only against the new overtime rules, but against the entire regime, and would not give up until they have succeeded in toppling it.

"The rebels are not bound by the illiberal constitution, but want a real change of system," he declared.

LMP MP Antal Csárdi called for a meeting of representatives of all unions and opposition parties for Wednesday, January 9, in order to coordinate their position regarding comprehensive amendments to the labor law.

On Sunday, Máté Kocsis, head of the governing Fideszʼs parliamentary group, claimed that there were organizations at the protests who were on the financing list of George Soros, the Hungarian-born financier and philanthropist who has been the principal target of government propaganda in recent years.

"The protests were attended by those parties that support immigration and George Soros, so it is clear that George Soros deployed his people in Hungary," Kocsis said in a broadcast of government-controlled Kossuth Rádió.

Related articles

The Central European University (CEU), while welcoming a Bavarian offer of financial and technical support for a long-term partnership with the Technical University of Munich (TUM), says that it needs legal guarantees from the Hungarian government if the solution is to work.

Hungaryʼs governing populist party Fidesz has been suspended by the center-right European Peopleʼs Party (EPP), the biggest political grouping in the European Parliament, after a vote triggered by what many member parties see as Fideszʼs defiance of EU policies and EPP values, according to breaking reports Wednesday evening.

Despite what he described as “constructive” dialogue with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in their meeting Tuesday, Manfred Weber, the leader of the European Peopleʼs Party (EPP) in the European Parliament, indicated afterwards that much remains to be done if Fideszʼs expulsion from the EPP is to be avoided.

Workers at Korean tire maker Hankookʼs plant in Dunaújváros (central Hungary) started a strike over pay at 2 p.m. Tuesday. More than 80% of workers support the strike and plan to join it, Tamás Székely, head of union federation VDSZ, told state news agency MTI.

Michael Ignatieff, president and rector of the Central European University (CEU), insisted in a statement released on Monday that the Hungarian government has forced CEU out of Hungary, claiming that “Hungarian government claims to the contrary are false and misleading.”

Hankook Tire Magyarország is raising base pay by 13.6% on average, with retroactive effect from January 1, 2019, the local unit of the Korean tire maker told state news agency MTI on Wednesday, in the wake of a two-hour warning strike early in the morning.

The European Peopleʼs Party (EPP), the group of conservative and Christian Democrat parties in the European Parliament which includes Hungaryʼs governing Fidesz, will start talks on the latterʼs possible suspension or expulsion, after 12 member parties from nine countries requested action, according to multiple reports.

The Hungarian Constitutional Court has rejected a petition by the Hungarian branch of human rights watchdog Amnesty International to scrap a controversial law criminalizing individuals or NGOs helping refugees or migrants, various media reported last Friday. However, the court warned of restrictions in the lawʼs application.

The population of Hungary declined by 41,300, or by 3%, in 2018 as a net result of 89,800 live births and 131,100 deaths during the year, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Tuesday. The number of live births was down 1.9% over the year, with deaths dropping a slight 0.4%.

Michael Ignatieff, the Canadian president and rector of the Central European University (CEU), has been named co-winner of the 2019 Dan David Prize in the "Present" dimension, in the field of "Defending Democracy," says a press release sent to the Budapest Business Journal.